Summit of the Peak of Teneriffe in Febniary 1829. 27 



was blowing strongly from the N.E., veered round to every 

 point of the compass, and ultimately established itself from the 

 north; but at sea, a few miles from land, it was blowing a 

 hurricane from the N.E., and in a moment, without any inter- 

 mediate change, it blew as strongly from the S.W. The sky 

 became obscured all at once by enormous masses of black 

 clouds, which hastened the night some time before sunset; 

 but neither thunder nor lightning was observed. The rain 

 commenced to fall in torrents towards 10 o'clock at night, 

 and the wind to blow with an overpowering impetuosity. At 

 half-past two on the morning of the 7th, Mr. Auber observed 

 several globes of fire moving upon the sea, at various distances 

 from the shore, whilst others remained stationary. One of 

 them, from its position, appeared to be on the top of the Mon- 

 taneta of Realejo, and caused him to suppose that that extinct 

 volcano was going to threaten the valley of Orotava with an 

 eruption : but he was soon undeceived, by observing that the 

 globe moved about on the surface of the water like the others, 

 and at some distance from the spot where he first thought it 

 was situated. 



These luminous globes appeared to move towards the S.W. 

 and follow the direction of the waves. The light which they 

 spread in the atmosphere extended more than 45° high; and 

 although he was three miles off, it was often sufficiently strong 

 to enable him to read rather small print; but no detonation 

 was heard. The number of globes increased from half-past 

 two o'clock till four, when they began to diminish. Mr. 

 Auber, at one period of his observations, counted fourteen 

 moving about at one time ; but the glare of light which he 

 perceived on his right, where the surrounding houses bounded 

 his view, caused him to suppose their number to be much 

 more considerable. Their duration was from one minute to 

 five or six, but seldom longer ; and their apparent diameter 

 was about the half of that of the moon at her full, when she 

 reaches the zenith. When they had all disappeared the dark- 

 ness was extreme, and he could not see the neighbouring 

 houses; but a quarter of an hour afterwards, the reappearance 

 of the same globes, or the formation of new ones, allowed him 

 to see the island of Palma, though nearly sixty miles distant. 

 The rain fell with equal force whilst these globes were appear- 

 ing upOn the sea and after their disappearance. It was men- 

 tioned that a globe of fire had fallen at the foot of the mountain 

 of Tigayga, which bounds the valley of Orotava to the west, 

 and that it had made a deep hole in the earth : — search was 

 made respecting the truth of this assertion, but it did not lead 



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